


The Romani Crystal

by Aprotny



Series: A Different Origin [1]
Category: Young Justice (Cartoon), Young Justice - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Different origin, Not Really Character Death, Resurrection
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-02
Updated: 2019-07-25
Packaged: 2020-02-16 01:06:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 10
Words: 16,041
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18681001
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aprotny/pseuds/Aprotny
Summary: Dick Grayson never truly believed the legend behind his ancestry. After all, if their people were able to come back to life every time they died, wouldn't his parents have come back for him? A rocket crash and tragedy on another planet changes all that. Now, Dick must readjust to his family and their culture while the Justice League and team mourn him and try to find a way home. Based on a book I'm writing that I may never finish.





	1. Death of a Robin

“Where’s Robin?” Batman demanded of the assembly of Justice League and Team members standing in front of the wreckage of their crashed transportation. Of those who’d come on the trip, only Robin was missing, and Batman worried that meant he was hurt worse than the barely standing teens in front of him. The Justice League members seemed fine, but were probably sporting injuries similar to the team. The elder heroes were just better at hiding them. “Superman, scan the wreckage for Robin.”

Superman did so with his x-ray vision and immediately started digging through the wreckage, breaking off pieces that were in his way. After a minute or so, he emerged with Robin in his arms.

The boy was unconscious and very pale. A rod was sticking out of his chest. Superman stared at him in dawning horror.

Reading the look on the other’s face, Batman snatched Robin out of Superman’s arms and started CPR and rescue breathing on the boy.

After about five to ten minutes of just watching while Batman attempted to resuscitate his son, Superman pulled Batman away.

“It’s no use, Batman. I still can’t hear his heartbeat. He must have…” Superman gulped. “You know, immediately on impact.”

Batman punched him in the face. Superman just took it while the team started crying and displaying other expressions of distress as they realized what was happening. The Justice League just looked on in shock.

Kid Flash was the only team member not crying. He approached Robin’s prone body, still in shock. Something was niggling in the back of his head, telling him this wasn’t the end, that he needed to have hope. Before he reached Robin, the body suddenly turned to dust which blew away in the wind.

He gasped, bringing everyone’s attention to him.

“What did you do?!” Batman roared.

“I didn’t touch him! I swear! It wasn’t me!” Kid Flash exclaimed. His uncle sped over and dragged him away from the spot, out of Batman’s line of fire.

Batman approached what was left, which was the blood-soaked uniform and utility belt.

Nobody spoke, but they were all thinking the same thing. Something fishy was happening, and if anyone was bound to find out, it was Batman.

* * *

 

Dick gasped in water as he sank deep into the spring. His eye caught sight of a beautiful, sea green, sparkling gem to the right of him. He was mesmerized by it.

Voices distracted him. Then, someone dove into the spring. Their arms encircled Dick, alerting him to the fact he wasn’t wearing any clothes. They then swam him up, just as he realized he needed air.

The two burst through the surface of the spring. Dick gasped for air while the diver, a man, swam him to the shore.

Dick was at first embarrassed when he noticed there were women on the shore with clothes about his size. Then, he caught sight of one in particular.

“Mami?”


	2. Legend

Kid Flash paced back and forth in the tent he and the other males had been told to share in the village they had found not far from the crash site. The villagers had promised to find the ones responsible for shooting down their rocket and so they had decided to stay in the village for the time being.

“Kid, you will burn the ground.” Aqualad warned. He, Superboy, and Kid Flash were the only ones in the tent at the moment. All the adults were in a meeting with the villagers.

Kid Flash stopped pacing. “It’s just…” He hesitated.

“We know, Kid.” Aqualad replied. “You are wondering why Robin’s body turned to dust. We all are.”

Kid Flash didn’t answer. That wasn’t what he was thinking about, or at least it wasn’t the only thing. He needed some fresh air.

“I’m going for a run.” Kid Flash mentioned, taking off out of the opening of the tent.

As he ran, he remembered a story that Robin had once told him.

_flashbackflashbackflashbackflashbackflashbackflashbackflashbackflashbackflashbackflashback_

_“It’s a story my Mami told me.” 11-year-old Dick Grayson told his best friend. They were in Dick’s room at Wayne Manor, having a sleepover._

_“Cool. What’s it about?” 13-year-old Wally West replied._

_“I don’t know if I should tell you. Mami said it’s not a story to be shared with anyone other than my own children.”_

_“Come on, Dick. You already brought it up. And it’s just a story. What could it hurt?”_

_“Okay. Just don’t tell Bruce. Long ago, on another planet in fact, there was a man and a woman. Their appearances shared many characteristics with humans, a fact that many of their descendents supposedly used to their advantage in order to live among humans on Earth. Anyways, the man and the woman came from separate villages on their home planet, but they were in love. One day, the woman became ill. The man scoured the planet for a cure, but he could find none. He prayed to anyone who might hear to save this woman, whom he would give his life for. The next morning, he came across a large, sparkly gem.”_

_“Don’t tell me. The gem was the cure to save the woman.”_

_“Not exactly. I’m getting there. The man wanted to give the gem as a gift to this woman should she recover, so he kept it. He traveled back to her village just to find the woman about to pass away. She wasn’t exactly deemed lucid, but she said to the man. She said, ‘Thank you for saving me.’ Of course the man was confused, as the woman passed away seconds later. It was only a moment after that when the body turned to dust. Everyone there gasped, for such a thing had never happened before. When nothing else happened, the man left the village in mourning. A good day’s journey away from the village, he came across a very deep spring in a large cavern. He decided to stay the night there.”_

_“Then what happened?”_

_“This is my favorite part. In the middle of the night, the man woke up to glowing white spirits floating and flying over the spring. One came near him and held her hands out. Entranced, the man didn’t even know what he was doing, but he pulled the pulsing gem out of his pocket and placed it in the hands of the spirit. The spirit flew away and dove into the spring while her fellow spirits did a dance and chant sort of thing around it. The spring water suddenly started glowing and pulsing. The man peered into the water and saw the woman.”_

_“No way!”_

_“I’m not finished. He dove into the spring and wrapped his arms around her, surprised to find her solid. He swam them both to the surface. As soon as they were out of the spring, it stopped glowing. The woman said. “Did I thank you for saving me already?” And the man cried.”_

_“Then what?”_

_“The villages they came from scorned and shunned the two, considering it an omen that the woman came back to life. But, happy in each other’s arms, the couple started a new village right by the spring. It would grow into an advanced metropolis. However, rather than involving themselves completely in science, like most humans these days, the couple’s descendants also dabbled in magic and the arts. They worshipped the spring, for their descendents were all revived by that gem when they died. The people called themselves the Roma.”_

_“Wait. Aren’t you Romani?”_

_“Yes. But I’m sure it’s just a fairytale. Wouldn’t my parents have come back for me if it wasn’t?”_

_“I don’t know, dude. People would sure notice if your parents suddenly popped back up and then you disappeared. Batman would be sure to investigate the loss of his Robin, if he even allowed your parents near you in the first place.”_

_“You think I might meet them again someday?”_

_“Well, I wouldn’t go and die just to test it if I were you.”_

_“Wasn’t planning on it.”_

_“Good. Cuz I don’t want to lose my best friend. This spring isn’t even on Earth apparently.”_

_“Haha. I don’t want to lose you either, Walls.”_

_“Aww… Man hug!”_

_“Stop it! You’re suffocating me!”_

_“You wouldn’t be talking if you were suffocating!”_

_flashbackflashbackflashbackflashbackflashbackflashbackflashbackflashbackflashbackflashback_

Kid Flash felt tears come to his eyes as he remembered that day. He skidded to a stop in a random spot. He was hundreds of miles from the village.

As he struggled to get ahold of himself, he noticed something out of the corner of his eye. He turned. On a mountain in the distance were the sparkling lights of a city.

Kid Flash debated his options. It was beginning to get dark. He could seek food and shelter in the city and go back to the village tomorrow, risking worrying his uncle and the others, or he could go back to the village now and everyone would ask questions but wouldn’t be too angry.

Sighing, he sped back to the village. It took him over an hour to get there and it was really dark by the time he saw the lights of the village.

Flash was pacing back and forth anxiously before a bunch of food when Kid Flash got there.

“Where’ve you been?! I was worried sick!” Flash scolded the moment he noticed his nephew.

“I just went for a run. I didn’t realize I’d gone so far.” Kid Flash replied. “Sorry for worrying you.”

“Everyone else has already eaten and gone to bed. Eat up and do the same. We’ll fill you in on what we learned in the morning.” Flash sighed as Kid Flash got to work on the food. “Next time, don’t come back so late.”

“Sowy, Unca Bawy.”

“No names, and you know your aunt always says not to talk with your mouth full.”

Kid Flash swallowed. “Sorry, Flash.”

“I’m going to turn in. Let me know if you need anything. You can return the dishes over there.” Flash headed into the tent.

Kid Flash watched him and then finished eating. As he did so, he wondered if he’d be able to sleep that night.

* * *

 

**Bold is Romani, the language**

Dick stared out at the starlit sky. The constellations were very different than those on Earth, but that was to be expected as he wasn’t on Earth right now.

“ **I thought I’d find you around here** .” Dick didn’t look away from the stars as his cousin, Johnnie, joined him. “ **Your mother put the twins to bed. She’s waiting for you to come back before turning in herself.** ” Johnnie watched as Dick ignored him. “ **How are you coping?** ”

Dick sighed. “ **I… I don’t know. I want to go home, but at the same time, I don’t. Who knew that fairytales could be real**.”

“ **It wasn’t a fairytale, Dick**.”

“ **Obviously, but I thought it was** .” Johnnie lay down next to him as Dick continued. “ **I’d ask why Mami and Tati didn’t come back for me, but they already told me the reasons. I just hope Bruce isn’t mourning too badly.** ”

“ **How did you die?** ”

“ **A rocket crash… wait… Oh my god! I hope everyone else is okay! What if I wasn’t the only one who died?! Oh my god!** ”

“ **Calm down, Dick. I’m sure you can ask Grandmother in the morning to look into it. Rumor has it there was a rocket crash on the other side of the planet. That might’ve been them**.”

“ **It was shot down**.”

“ **Shot down?** ”

“ **Yes. What if they’ve been captured? Or brainwashed? Or…** ”

“ **Dick, you need to calm yourself. From what you’ve told me today alone, your friends can handle themselves. In the morning, we can ask Grandmother to send a group to the crash site to gather information. Tonight, you need to get some rest. You just went through the spring this afternoon.** ” Johnnie got up. “ **Well? You coming?** ”

Dick sighed again. “ **I guess so. I just really hope Bruce is doing alright.** ”

“ **I can’t say he’s okay. He just lost you, after all. But I’m sure he’s coping**.”

“ **Batman doesn’t cope. He broods.** ”

“ **Whatever you say, shortstuff. Let’s get back to town.** ”


	3. City on the Mountain

Wally was up with the sun the next morning. He’d barely slept the night before. He wasn’t interested in the briefing his uncle had promised him. He just wanted to see what was in that city. Oh yeah, and figure out if the spring Dick spoke of existed.

“You’re up early.” Artemis noted as he grabbed some breakfast before leaving.

“I have a self-assigned mission. Don’t tell anyone.” Wally replied.

“I won’t tell anyone because I’m coming with you.” Artemis stated stubbornly.

“No way. You’ll slow me down.”

“Carry me. I can handle it.” Artemis crossed her arms. “I know you’re investigating what happened to Robin.”

“I don’t know…”

“Come on, Wally! You missed the briefing they gave us last night with pertinent information. It’s clear you’re leaving before they update you this morning too.”

“Fine. You can come with. We’ll stop halfway to discuss what we know.”

Forty-five minutes later, Wally slid to a stop. “This is halfway to where I went last night. We’ll stop here to discuss.”

Artemis adjusted her quiver. “The villagers warned us about a people called the Roma that live on this planet. Batman seemed skeptical, but shared the information anyways.”

“Roma?”

“Yeah. There’s a similarly named group on Earth.”

“Continue.”

“The villagers say the Roma shoot down rockets trying to leave the planet all the time. They think the Roma are the ones who shot down our ship and killed Robin.”

“And the turning to dust part?”

“They refused to tell us anything regarding that. I think they knew but pretended they didn’t.”

“Anything else?”

“They said to avoid the city on the ridge if we come across it. It’s where the Roma live.”

“Okay. As if we weren’t already going there.”

“We’re going to the place we were explicitly told not to go?”

“Yes. Got a problem with it? You can walk back. It’ll only take you a few days.”

“Might I ask why we’re going there?”

“Because… because I know a Romani and, by the sound of it, those villagers are trying to turn the Justice League against the Roma for their own purposes. I betcha the villagers are the ones who shot us down. But we can only know by checking out the other side of the story, the Roma’s side.”

“How do you know a Romani?”

“Long story.”

“We have time.”

“Not if we want to get to that city in time for lunch, we don’t.”

“You and your stomach. Alright. Let’s go.”

Wally scooped her up and took off again.

* * *

 

“He’s gone again! Where’d he go?!” Flash exclaimed, coming over to the rest of the group after zipping around the entire village in search of his nephew.

“Artemis is missing too. Hopefully, they’re in the same place.” Green Arrow mused.

“Batman’s thrown himself into the investigation of the crash.” Black Canary sighed, joining them. “He’s determined to beat up whoever caused Robin’s death. He seems skeptical of the villagers though.”

“Right now, they’re the only lead we’ve got.” Superman pointed out. “If we see any Roma, we can question them too. Not that it’s very likely. Supposedly, their city is hundreds of miles from here. It would take days for them to travel here, maybe even weeks.”

Flash snorted. “It would take Wally an hour, and he’s slower than me.”

“Let’s just hope that’s not where he decided to run off to. The Roma are a group we should face as a group. We don’t know what they’re capable of.”

* * *

 

Wally stopped in front of the gate to the city and set Artemis down.

“Now what, genius?” Artemis snorted. “And don’t tell me we’re gonna run up and over. Trespassing is a bad idea.”

Wally knocked on the wooden gate. The sound was far too quiet and didn’t echo.

“Um… We come in peace!” He shouted to what looked like guards at the top of the gate.

“What makes you think they understand English, Kid Dork?”

Wally shrugged. Worth a shot. “Um…  **I don’t know much Romani. Do you have any food?** ”

They could hear roaring laughter from the top of the gate.

“I have no idea what I said. I might have butchered what I was trying to say.” Wally murmured.

They both stepped back as the gate was lowered. Several wall contraptions broke apart to let them in.

“Whatever you said; it seems they liked it.” Artemis mentioned as they slowly entered the city. A young man not much older than Roy was waiting on the other side.

“Hi. I’m Johnnie.” The young man introduced. “What are your names?”

“I’m Wally and she’s Artemis.” Wally replied. “Can you tell me what I said? It was supposed to be ‘I don’t know much Romani. Can you help me?’ but I have no clue what I actually said.”

Johnnie looked amused. “You said you didn’t know much Romani alright. But then you asked if we had any food.”

“Dammit Dick! You were supposed to be teaching me how to get help! Not how to embarrass myself!” Wally murmured to himself.

“You look a lot like a school friend of mine.” Artemis said. “It’s probably a coincidence though. His name’s Richard Grayson.”

Johnnie smiled. “Follow me. But stay close. Most guests that come here are hostile, so you might not be welcomed by all. You seem more human than hostile though.”

Wally and Artemis exchanged glances and then jumped as the last of the gates closed behind them. They quickly followed after Johnnie.

Johnnie led them to a building in the center of the city. It looked like a Japanese temple mixed with a mosque mixed with a church.

“This way ” Johnnie led them to what seemed to be a waiting room in the building. “Wait here a moment. I’ll see if she’s ready for you.”

Wally and Artemis found seats on pillows placed on the ground while Johnnie entered a room nearby.

“Well, they seem surprisingly friendly.” Wally mentioned once Johnnie seemed out of earshot.

“There’s got to be a reason they’re so accepting of us. Johnnie said most visitors come here with hostile intentions. How do they know we didn’t?”

Wally immediately thought of Dick. “You have a point. But now I’m getting my hopes up. Let’s wait and see what happens.”

Artemis looked at him weirdly, but didn’t have a chance to say anything else before Johnnie returned.

“Okay. You may enter, but I’m afraid I’ll have to take your quiver. Safety precautions. I’m sure you understand. I’ll be waiting out here with it when you’re done.” Johnnie held his hand out for the quiver.

Artemis hesitated.

“Don’t worry. She won’t hurt you. You can have it back when you come out.” Johnnie assured her.

“It’s okay, Artemis.” Wally put in. “If we want answers, we have to trust him.”

Artemis groaned. “I hope I don’t regret this.” She handed over her quiver and Johnnie guided them into the room, closing the door behind them.

In the room was an elderly woman and some younger women who Artemis and Wally guessed were maids.

The elderly woman smiled at them. “Johnnie tells me you speak English. Might I ask your names?”

“I’m Wally.” Wally said. “This is…”

“Artemis.” Artemis interrupted. “I can introduce myself, thank you very much.”

“Well, Wally and Artemis, how might I help you today?”

“We crash-landed on this planet yesterday afternoon. We know someone shot us down, but we don’t know who. The first village we came across claims you did it. That you do it all the time. We have reason to believe otherwise.” Artemis began.

“Also, a… friend of ours died in the crash. His body turned to dust and… he’d previously told me a story that gave me hope… hope that I hadn’t lost him for good.”

Artemis’s ponytail flew out as she spun to face Wally. She hadn’t known his main inquiry was to be about Robin.

“Our people are forbidden to tell that story to outsiders unless they marry them. I do, however, know of one child who wouldn’t have known better and might have told it.”

“One child?” Artemis inquired, intrigued.

“Yes. Years ago, a whole family from our fair city was on Earth and were murdered in cold blood. One child, an eight-year-old, lived to tell the tale. But he hadn’t been back here since a very young age and thus would not have known the tale was not supposed to be told to outsiders. His mother had told him, of course, but he still wouldn’t have known the severity of it.”

“Does the fact he told it put him in trouble?” Wally asked worriedly.

“Considering his circumstances and his young age, we will make an exception. Do you know if he told it to anyone else?”

“No. The one other person he might’ve told doesn’t seem to know or believe it, so I don’t think he’s told anyone else.”

“Who… Wally, you know who she’s talking about?”

Wally turned to her. “Richard Grayson.”

Artemis gaped at him. “What? I thought for a second it might’ve been Robin, but Richard Grayson? How do you even know him?”

“Every family in our city has a tribal theme. Every male child is given a tribal name based on that theme at birth. Females can choose their tribal name when they marry, or, if they choose not to marry, when they reach a certain age. Richard’s tribal name is Robin.”

“Wait! That means…” Artemis began.

“Yep.” Wally interrupted. 

“And…”

“Yep.”

“Wow…” Artemis trailed off into silence.

“Is… is the tale true? Is he here?” Wally asked.

“Yes. He is. Johnnie can take you to him in a bit. We have to go through some security logistics first. Do you plan on leaving the city to report your findings to anyone?”

“Yes.” Artemis said.

“No.” Wally replied.

“What about Batman? He’s in mourning. He needs to know!”

“Do you really want to walk for over a week to get there?”

“Well, no…”

“We’re not reporting to anyone. The League can deal. We can make up excuses if we come across them.”

Artemis gaped at him for a moment and then grumbled. “Fine. We’ll do it your way.”

“We can go over exceptions to the rule if you do want to go back, but at a later date, I suppose?” The elderly woman told them.

“Later date is fine. I wanna see Rob.” Wally stated truthfully.

“Now now. Remember your manners.” The elderly woman scolded lightly. She then went over a list of rules with them before sending them back out to Johnnie.

“Grandmother’s intimidating, isn’t she?” Johnnie asked.

“Grandmother?” Wally questioned as he and Artemis trailed behind Johnnie again.

“Well, you can’t call her that. She’s the elder to you. But she’s my grandmother.”

“You’re Dick’s cousin, aren’t you? The one that died in the accident?” Artemis realized.

“That I am. And in case you were wondering why we were so accepting towards you, Dick’s been on a worry tangent since yesterday. We know of everyone who was on that rocket with him.” Johnnie turned around and walked backwards a bit. “Please tell me he’s the only one who died in that crash.”

“He was. The rest of us were injured, but obviously not killed.” Artemis answered.

“Thank goodness. We’ve got a group investigating what took you down, in case you were wondering. It was probably one of the villages at war with us right now. They’re always looking for allies and ways to turn potential allies against us. Believe me. It’s not easy being the one city on the planet that everyone else agrees needs to go. All the same, shooting down a rocket is stepping over the line.” Johnnie told them. “They shouldn’t have done that. Even with animals, it will take us nearly a week to get to the crash site. If I didn’t know one of you is a speedster, as Dick calls it, I would be wondering how you got here so fast.”

“How much has he told you?” Wally spluttered.

“He hasn’t told me much, but I’ve overheard him telling his twin younger sisters enough for me to make an educated guess that one of you is Kid Flash.” Johnnie made air quotes. “The ‘super-fast speed-eater’, as the girls summarized it.”

“Haha.” Artemis snorted. “How old are they?”

“They’ll be six in a couple of months, and they love stories of Earth. They shunned my bedtime story last night. Their mother had to repeat one she’d heard about Batman, with the byline that she’d heard it from Dick. He’s a better storyteller than me too. With all the funny voices. Here we are.” He motioned to a house on the side of the street. “Home sweet home.”

They entered the house. Two identical little girls ran up to Johnnie. “Johnnie’s home!”

“ **Who are you?** ” The slightly taller one asked rudely to Wally and Artemis.

“ **Oh! Let me guess! Let me guess!** It’s super-fast speed-eater and his girlfriend, super-awesome archer girl!” The smaller one exclaimed, bouncing on her feet.

Artemis burst out laughing, while Wally grumbled about having gotten the short end of the stick.

“ **Yes. That’s them. Where’s your brother, you two?** ” Johnnie asked.

“ **He’s out with Mami. Tati’s watching us. He’s out back.** ” Taller twin told him.

“ **Practice your English with ‘super-fast speed-eater and super-awesome archer girl’. Introduce yourselves, okay?** ” Johnnie told them.

“ **I don’t like English though** .” Taller twin pouted.

“ **Well, now you know why you need it. Practice, practice, practice. Especially if you want to go to Earth one day.** ” Johnnie turned to Wally and Artemis. “I’ll go tell Uncle John you’re here and then go find Dick. Why don’t you get to know the twins a little better? It will help them with their English.”

Wally and Artemis glanced at each other. Wally shrugged and Artemis replied to Johnnie. “Okay.”

Johnnie went out back while Wally and Artemis and the twins migrated to the living room.

“This house is a lot like those on Earth.” Wally commented.

“Yeah. The architennis get a lot of influenza from Earth peoples.” Smaller twin piped up eagerly.

“You mean, ‘the architects get a lot of influence from Earth’s people.’” Artemis corrected.

“Yay! New Engali teacher!” Smaller twin exclaimed.

“English teacher?”

“Yeah! That!” Smaller twin bobbed her head. “I’m Sally, by the way! That’s Caroline! She’s older by three mops!”

“Three minutes?”

“Yeah! Three minutes.” Sally pronounced the last word carefully before adding. “Caroline doesn’t like English.”

“That’s okay. Dick didn’t like English at first either.” Wally knelt to Caroline’s level.

“He did nope?” Caroline repeated hesitantly.

“He didn’t.” Wally confirmed. “He didn’t learn it until he fell into bad circumstances in which it was the only way he could keep going. He had to learn how to communicate with the people around him, many of whom only knew English. He wasn’t much older than you when that happened.”

Caroline looked at Sally in confusion. Sally did her best to translate for her.

“Artemis and I can do our best to teach you, but Dick might be better at it. We don’t know much Romani.” Wally offered.

“We decapitate your offer. Johnnie is already doing well in teaching us English. Even Caroline knows a little due to Dick pushing it during our lesson yesterday.” Sally said.

“I think you mean ‘appreciate’. ‘We appreciate your offer’.” Artemis corrected. “To decapitate is to chop somebody’s head off.”

Sally blushed. “Oops. Thank you for the correction.”

“What did I just walk in on?” Dick’s confused voice came from the doorway. “In what context was the word ‘decapitate’ used?”

Wally’s eyes lit up. “Dick!”

At the same time, Sally and Caroline tackled the boy. “ **Brother!** ”

“ **I was practicing my English! And super-awesome archer girl was correcting it for me!** ” Sally chattered excitedly. “ **She says** decapitate **is not the right word for appreciating an offer!** ”

“ **She’s certainly right about that…** ” Dick murmured. “ **Have Wally and Artemis introduced themselves?** ”

“ **I guessed! I guessed who they were** !” Sally declared happily. “ **And I introduced us!”**

“ **How about you, Caroline? Did you introduce yourself?** ”

**“Can we trust them, Brother?** ” Caroline asked hesitantly.

**“Yes. Absolutely. I would trust them with my life and those I’m protecting. They’ve watched my back and helped me save people countless times.** ”

Caroline scooted closer to Dick. Catching the hint, Dick turned to Sally. “ **Why don’t you go talk to Wally and Artemis some more? I’m sure they’ll help you with your English.** ” Sally nodded and scurried back over to Wally and Artemis, who were watching the scene with smiles on their faces.  **“What’s the matter, Caroline** ?”

“ **The last human-like people to come here and be invited in launched a sneak attack in the middle of the night and nearly destroyed half the city. They let villagers in. And the villagers tried to take the gem from the spring.”**

Dick grimaced. “ **Yikes. Well, I know for a fact that Wally and Artemis will do nothing of the sort. If they attack anyone, it will be in defense, to protect us and to protect you. They won’t hurt you. I promise you that.** ”

“ **Pinky promise** ?”

“ **Pinky promise.** ” He hooked her pinky with his and then let it go. “ **Now, I need to go talk to them. I’m sure they have lots of questions, especially Artemis. You can stick around if you want, but you might not be able to understand much.** ”

Caroline nodded, and kept her hand in his as they walked over to converse with the other three.


	4. A Stolen Crystal

“I’m worried about Wally and Artemis.” Rocket brought up as the members of the team took a walk in the surrounding woods.

“I miss Robin.” Zatanna added in.

“I am sure Wally and Artemis are fine.” Aqualad said. “As for Robin, we will find the people who caused his death and bring justice. That is a promise.”

M’gann rubbed her arms. “I can still feel Batman’s emotions from here. They’re really strong. He’s angry and sad.”

“And a mix of other emotions, I’m sure.” Superboy butted in. “He just lost his son. And he doesn’t even have a body to show for it.”

“That part is quite the mystery. Why did Robin’s body turn to dust? Bodies don’t do that. At least, they don’t do that without a lot of time and exposure to the elements.”

Flash zipped up to them. “Hey. Come back to the camp. It’s time for lunch and we need to have a discussion about Kid Flash and Artemis’s disappearance.” He sped away before they could respond.

Everyone turned to Aqualad. “We should follow his directions. The last thing the League needs is to lose sight of the rest of us.”

The teens nodded in agreement and followed Aqualad back to the camp.

After a filling lunch, Green Arrow brought up Wally and Artemis again. “Where could they be? It’s been more than three days since anyone here has seen them.”

“The villagers claim the Roma took them.” Superman shared. “But considering the supposed distance to their city and the short amount of time between when we crash-landed and when they disappeared, I don’t think that’s likely.”

“More likely they went off on their own and got captured a ways out, if they got captured at all.” Black Canary said. “It’s possible they just decided not to come back.”

“Or Kid Flash decided not to come back and Artemis had to deal with it because they were very far from the camp.” Zatanna mentioned. Everyone looked at her. “What? Artemis wouldn’t purposefully worry us like this. It’s likely she’s with Kid Flash and that they’re far enough away that she doesn’t want to walk back.”

“We need a course of action.” Superman asserted. “Batman?” Batman ignored him, still brooding over the loss of Robin. He had barely eaten anything since Robin had passed, and it was a struggle to even force down the necessities for survival with him. Even now, his plate was almost completely full with uneaten food and he had taken maybe one sip of water. Superman sighed. “Anyone else have any ideas?”

“We should see if the Roma have anything to do with this. Or if there are any other villages out here that might’ve caused the crash.” Black Canary suggested. “Kid Flash and Artemis might be investigating as well.”

“What if they come back here?” Flash asked.

“You can return periodically to check. It shouldn’t be a problem with your speed.” Superman responded.

Flash scowled, but agreed.

“Good. We’ll set out at first light.”

* * *

 

“ **I’m going to check on Mami and Aunt Karla.** ” Dick announced late on the fourth night of Wally and Artemis’s stay. “ **They should’ve been back by now.** ”

“ **I should come with you**.” His father replied.

“ **It’s okay. Wally or Artemis could join.** ”

“ **They’re not allowed within the security fence surrounding the spring. Only Roma are.** ”

“ **I’ll take Johnnie then.** ”

“ **He’s putting the girls to sleep.** ”

“ **Then I’ll go on my own. You should stay here. You are the head of the household, after all. I’ll be back soon**.” Dick stood and put on his shoes.

“Where are you going, Dick?” Wally inquired, not having understood the conversation his friend and friend’s father just had.

“I’m going to the spring.” Dick explained. “Mami and Aunt Karla work there. They should’ve been back an hour ago when their shift ended. I’m worried.”

“One of us should go with you.” Artemis declared.

“You’re not allowed to go through the security around the spring.” Dick reminded them.

“Then we’ll go with you up to that point.” Wally said. “We’ll be right outside when you come back. Then, we can all return together.”

Dick shrugged and shared the plan with his father, who agreed to it.

The three friends made the walk across town to the entrance to the spring. When they reached it, Dick waved to Wally and Artemis and continued through the security alone while they found a bench to sit on.

A security guard escorted Dick down into the chamber where his mother and aunt worked. They were in charge of making sure every returnee who came through the spring had clothes to put on.

The cavern was dark. Dick shared an uneasy gaze with the security guard as the latter turned on his flashlight. They continued until they reached the main chamber of the cavern, where the spring was.

“ **Mami? Auntie Karla?** ” Dick called, taking a step forward. He turned back to the security guard. “ **The lights are out. That can’t be good**.”

Something slammed into Dick’s head. He collapsed.

“ **Kid!** ” The security guard shouted, fighting off intruders.

Dick was in a daze, gazing through half-lidded eyes as he was dragged further into the cavern and then thrown on top of a bunch of other people.

He could hear a faint alarm blaring, but the ringing in his ears near-muted it. He could feel movement under his body.

He knew no more.

* * *

 

Wally and Artemis ran up to the security desk. “What’s going on?!” “What’s that alarm?!”

The security guard turned to his co-worker, who replied. “Something’s happened in the cavern. The spring is in danger.”

“Our friend is down there!” Wally exclaimed. “We’ve got to help him!”

Several guards had to restrain them to keep them from entering the cavern.

“ **Good heavens! What is going on here?!** ” The elder raced over with most of the Roma who lived closest to the spring. Most all of them were in pajamas and various levels of undress.

“They said the spring is in danger!” Wally exclaimed. “Dick is down there!”

The elder rushed past them. Wally and Artemis managed to slip in with the crowd of Roma.

With a lot of flashlights, the remnants of a fight scene were obvious. Nobody remained in the cavern from before the crowd got down there. By the look of it, they had all been abducted.

“ **The gem! It’s gone!** ” Someone screamed, her flashlight pointed at the spring. All the investigating flashlights turned to the spring. The water was a murky brown color and the gem was nowhere to be seen.

“ **Who could have taken it?** ” Many others murmured.

“ **Enough. Up and out. It’s too dark to investigate in the moonlight. We’ll have to wait until morning.** ” The elder sounded like she was dreading the investigation as much as the rest were. “You two. Come here.” She motioned to Wally and Artemis, who were searching for Dick among the rubble. The two teens hurried over to her. “You said my grandson was down here?”

“Yes. He was worried because his mother and aunt hadn’t returned from the spring.”

“ **He was escorted by a security guard, as per protocol.** ” An eavesdropping guard added. “ **The guard radioed up that the spring was under attack. He said something along the lines of ‘they took the kid’. We immediately activated the alarm and contacted you.** ”

“ **So the intruders took everyone down here and the gem. They must have been finishing their raid when Richard and his escort came down.** ” The elder turned to Wally and Artemis. “Go back to the Graysons’. Tell them the gem has been stolen. We must prepare for an attack on the city. I expect you’ll be helping us out.”

“What happened to Dick?”

“He was taken. Along with everyone else who had the misfortune of being down here at the time.”

“We have to find him!”

“There will be search parties all over. Artemis, you would be better at defending the city. Take care of the children. Wally, you can join a search party. Your speed will help us out.”

The two nodded in compliance before Artemis rushed back to the Graysons’ place and Wally followed the crowd that was being organized into search parties.


	5. Brief Escape and A City Attacked

“Any luck today?” Artemis asked, as Wally returned in exhaustion for the third night in a row. The twins gazed at him with hopeful yet resigned eyes.

“No. I keep running further and further. I’ve almost searched the entire way back to our crash site. There’s no sign of them.” Both Wally’s and Artemis’s eyes had dark rings under them from lack of sleep. How could they sleep when Dick was missing and most likely suffering?

“Let’s hope he’s okay. With the gem removed from the spring, there’s no guarantee we can get him back if they kill him.” Artemis murmured. “The girls wanted to wait up for your return. I’m going to go put them to bed now. Do you have any cool stories about Dick for their bedtime story?”

Wally nodded. “Yeah. I can come up with something. We’ve shared a lot of adventures together.”

In the absence of both of the twins’ maternal figures, and with the men searching all day and late into the night for the missing Roma, Artemis had taken over caring for the twins, and, when needed, other children as well.

Wally, on the other hand, was his own search party. He had a captain to report to, but otherwise could use his speed to travel as far as possible to search during the day. He’d been really useful in covering ground that wasn’t close to the city.

“I came across the League and team today, by the way. I think they’re headed this way. They seem to have been stopping at many villages along the way, though.”

“As long as they don’t help the villagers attack the Roma, I don’t care. Did they see you?”

“I don’t think so. They’ve travelled about half the distance from the crash site to the city.”

“Be careful. If they see you, they might try to stop you.”

“I’ve got it covered, Babe. Now, I think Caroline and Sally want their bedtime story. And I need to get some rest before searching again tomorrow.”

* * *

Dick felt a surge of victory as the lock gave way under his fingers. He carefully lowered it to the ground and glanced at his captor.

Still fast asleep. Good.

He crept out of the tent, using a ton of stealth.

Halfway to the edge of the village, he spotted something out of the corner of his eye. He hid.

The gem. The one from the spring. It was being guarded carefully closer to the center of the village, the faint glow just barely reaching his eyes.

He hesitated a moment. Then, praying he wouldn’t regret it, he snuck towards the gem.

He silently knocked out the guards, not giving them a chance to exclaim their surprise.

Then, he carefully took the gem off its pedestal.

Urrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

An alarm went off loudly. He quickly slipped into the shadows, stuffing the gem in his pocket.

It took every bit of stealth training Batman had bestowed upon him to reach the edge of the village without being caught by the villagers. He had just made it into the woods when someone spotted him.

“Hey!”

Dick ran.

Batman awoke to heavy breathing approaching the tent where they lay.

Someone knelt beside him and stuffed something in his utility belt. They quickly penned a note and stuck it on his forehead, or rather the cowl covering his forehead. In the pitch-black darkness, Batman couldn’t see who it was.

He dared to hope and called out quietly. “Dick?”

The figure froze and whispered. “Don’t give that to anyone. Not a soul, you hear me? Keep it safe and you’ll see me again.” They then grabbed Robin’s utility belt and, after checking if the coast was clear, bolted out of the tent.

Batman blinked. He prayed it wasn’t a dream, but… He dug a flashlight out of his utility belt, ripped the note off his cowl, and shined the flashlight on the note.

_ Bruce -- _

_ I need you to keep something safe for me. I’ve stuck it in your utility belt. Don’t take it out. Don’t show it to anyone. Don’t give it to anyone. Keep it a secret. Also, burn this note. _

_ Love you, _

_ Dick _

His eyes lingered on that last word. Dick. He was alive? How?

There was no denying it, though. The note was in Dick’s handwriting, and the figure hadn’t been shocked by taking Dick’s utility belt.

What was he protecting? Which pocket was it in? Why did Dick have it in the first place? How did Dick have it in the first place?

“Batman? What are you doing up? What are you looking at?” Superman yawned. “I thought I heard a voice.” He moved to look at the note, but Batman quickly turned his flashlight off and tucked the note into his utility belt. He would burn the note the next chance he got.

“It’s none of your business.” He growled, before standing and leaving the tent.

There was no one in sight, but Dick was fast. He doubted the boy had stuck around for long, especially considering he’d given something to Batman he probably didn’t want anyone to know the location of.

“Batman, I hear something.” Superman was right behind him. “A commotion on the other side of the village.” 

Superman started towards the commotion, glancing at Batman hesitantly. Then, he stopped. “It’s over already.”

“Which way?”

“It’s over.”

“Which way, Clark?”

Superman sighed and led the way.

Before they had gone far, a couple animals native to the planet and used similarly to horses thundered past behind them, riders on each one.

Batman spun around and started running after them.

“Batman, let the villagers handle it! It’s none of our business.” Superman grabbed Batman’s arm.

Batman ripped said arm out of the other hero’s grip, but it was too late. The animals were out of sight. And the riders had probably taken Dick with them.

* * *

 

Morning came once again. Wally was still asleep as Artemis packed some food in his bag.

“Wake up, Wally.” She entered the bedroom they were sharing in the Graysons’ house. “You need to find Rob, remember?”

Wally groaned and rolled over. “Five more minutes.”

She whacked him on the head. “No. Get up. Find Robin.”

Groaning again, Wally pushed himself up and then speedily got dressed.

Artemis held out his bag for him, and said the same thing she’d said every morning since the second day of the search. “Please find him. The twins need their brother back. They need their mother and aunt back too.”

Wally nodded and kissed her on the cheek. “I’ll do my best, Artemis. But I can’t make any promises. It’s a big planet.”

“Do your best. That’s all I ask.” Artemis watched as the food she’d prepared for his breakfast disappeared off the counter. Then, Wally was gone.

“Did Wally go already?” Sally asked, peeking out of her and Caroline’s bedroom a few seconds later.

“You missed him by a few seconds.” Artemis replied. “Why don’t you wake your sister up while I make our breakfast?”

“Okay.” Sally agreed, closing the cracked door.

Artemis could hear her jumping on Caroline’s bed a moment later, shouting, “ **Wake up! Wake up, Caroline!** ”

She shook her head in amusement and went to prepare breakfast for the Grayson family.

Mr. Grayson entered the kitchen after a few minutes, prepared to offer his assistance like every morning. Whether it was Artemis or his wife, he wished to help with the preparation of food in any way he could. But especially with Artemis, since she was doing their family a favor by even staying there.

After breakfast, the men of the family left for the search. Their unit was set to camp out that night so that they could cover further ground. Artemis had made sure to pack them food as well, though not as much as Wally.

As Mr. Grayson, his brother, and his nephew left the house, they turned around almost in sync.

Artemis interrupted before they could speak, anticipating the words. “You don’t have to thank me. It’s the least I can do after all Dick’s done for me. Just go find your family. Please.”

Satisfied, the Grayson men left.

Artemis spent a few hours entertaining the girls and the other children left with her. She taught them English and they taught her Romani. They played games as well.

They were eating lunch when a loud siren went off. Artemis looked out the window.

“What’s…” She began.

The children interrupted as they began to freak out.

“We’re under attack!”

“All the men are gone!”

“What do we do?!”

“The crystal isn’t here to resurrect us!”

“We’re gonna die!”

“Everyone, be quiet!” Artemis commanded. The children fell silent. “Wait here two seconds. I’m going to get my bow and then we’re going to find a safe place where the attackers won’t find us. You will not die. Not on my watch, at least.”

She raced to grab her bow and quiver from the room she was sharing with Wally, returning to the kids in less than a minute.

“Stay close. Do not leave the group. Come on.”

She led the way out of the house. No sooner was the last child out of the house and a good 50 meters away when a bomb fell on the house. The blast blew them back a bit. Artemis quickly counted the children, relieved to find she had all of them. Several of them hurried closer to her for comfort.

“We have to keep moving. Buddy system. Everyone, get in groups of three. Keep an eye on the two others in your group. Alert me if one of those two ever leaves the group or falls behind. Let’s move.”

The children quickly followed her instructions.

Artemis led the way to an emergency exit from the city that led deep into the mountain and then out the other side. Dick had made sure she and Wally knew where all the exits were in case of emergency. This definitely qualified as an emergency.

Several other teens accompanied by children joined them on their trek to the exit. There were a couple close calls regarding bombed buildings, but they all made it.

“Okay.” Artemis turned to her group, counting again just in case. “Caroline, Sally, I’m giving you two an important job. Lead the way until we reach the cavern that marks the center of the tunnel. I’m going to guard the end to make sure everyone makes it that far. I’ll lead again once we reach the cavern, okay?”

Sally nodded in determination. Caroline trembled a little, but nodded as well.

Artemis guarded the exit as her group entered the tunnel. A few moments after she entered behind them, she saw a missile headed towards them. “Get down!” She shot an arrow to deter the missile, keeping it from hitting them directly.

Despite the deterrent, the entrance was still destroyed, caving in feet behind them.

Once the rumbling stopped, Artemis took a deep breath and looked back at the children, Sally was shining a flashlight in her direction. “Is anyone hurt?” Twelve “no”s answered her.  “Check if anyone in your group was unable to answer.” A variety of answers this time, but enough to assure her everyone was all right. “Okay, Sally, Caroline, lead the way.”

“Excuse me.” A girl not much older than Sally and Caroline pulled at Artemis’s sleeve. She wasn’t part of Artemis’s group. “We got separated from my sister, who was leading us here, when the entrance caved in. You seem nice. Can we join your group please?”

“How many?” Artemis was impressed at the little girl’s English. Sally and Caroline had thankfully noticed the commotion and stopped.

“There be five of us, Ma’am.” A little boy piped up after counting.

“Okay.” Artemis agreed. “Make sure no one of the five of you gets separated from the group. Keep close and don’t get lost. If anyone in your group doesn’t understand English, please translate what I just said.”

The little girl translated as two more little girls and another little boy joined them.

Artemis motioned to Sally and Caroline to proceed.

They made it to the cavern in the center without further problems. Multiple groups were piling in from various entrances. One padlocked exit was being worked at by an older woman.

The cavern rumbled as they waited for her to open it.

Artemis looked up worriedly. She busied her mind by comforting the now seventeen children she was in charge of.

“When the door opens, there will be surge of people running for it. We need to wait until everything calms down a bit before we try to exit or someone may get separated or hurt. Worst case scenario, we can find another exit. I’m sure there’s more than one.” Artemis looked around the cavern, finding another padlocked door. “There. Worst case scenario, we go through that one, okay?” After translation, seventeen hesitant “yes”s came back to her.

They ended up the last in the rumbling cavern, but that was okay, because moments before the group before them went through the open door, the tunnel beyond it collapsed.

The cavern rumbled much more dangerously. Artemis led the way to the second padlocked door, firing a freeze arrow at the lock before anyone got close. She then kicked the door open with her foot and motioned for the children to enter.

“Be careful. I’ll be right behind. Stop before exiting so that I can make sure the coast is clear.” 

Sally and Caroline led the way with Artemis taking up the rear again. At the end of the tunnel, there was another padlocked door.

“Stand back” Artemis fired another freeze arrow, kicking the door open the same way as before. The children all hurried out once she motioned that it was clear. They were halfway up the mountain. Down below, Artemis could see a fight occurring right where the other exit let out. A forest was present a little further up the mountain. “Move quickly. We can’t let ourselves be seen.” She pointed to the trees.

Artemis and the children with her made it to the forest, but the group assembling at the exit after them got attacked. 

Artemis trembled. Too close. Far too close. “Keep going. We need to get as far from here as possible.”

She knew that they were lucky so far. But they weren’t out of the woods yet. They had to keep moving.


	6. Stuff Happens

Wally raced back to find the captain he was to report to. He was excited. He’d found them. They were a good few days outside the city, but he’d found them.

The captain and the rest of his unit were running towards the city. Wally slowed his pace to a normal running speed to join them.

“Hey.” He startled the captain.

“Wally! Scout ahead! We got word the city was under attack!” The captain commanded.

All thoughts of rescuing the kidnapped group flew from his mind. The kidnapped Roma were unharmed for the most part. If the city was under attack though…

“Artemis!” The name was lost in the wind as he burst forward with renewed speed. He reached the city and sped up and over the destroyed outer wall. He then sped around the city. The Grayson house was destroyed, but a lightning-speed search showed no bodies. Crowds of Roma were being herded like sheep out of the city. After finding no sign of Artemis, Wally knocked out several villagers who were doing the herding, allowing the Roma to run. He did this for a while until he ran out of juice, at which point he took a break near an emergency exit from the city, hidden from view.

It was then that he saw a familiar green arrow embedded in a missile near the caved in entrance to the emergency exit.

His face drained of color and he prayed Artemis was all right.

He told himself Artemis could take care of both herself and others. He needed to focus on freeing any Roma who were currently captured.

Maybe, he’d find Artemis in the process.

* * *

 

Dick groaned as he woke. The last thing he remembered was being burned, waterboarded, electrocuted, etc., in an attempt to get the location of the gem out of him. He hadn’t budged.

He slowly sat up to find himself in a cage. No one was in sight. If he remembered correctly from his trained observation skills, he was somewhere in the mountains, probably far from the village where the rest of the captured Romani were being kept.

He tested the door to the cage and then smirked as he saw they still hadn’t removed his utility belt. Stupid bastards.

He pulled out some lock-picking tools and worked on the door. He had gotten it open, and ran a few feet, when a large villager stepped in his path and grabbed him by the arms when he failed to stop in time.

“ **Going somewhere, little Romani** ?”

Dick struggled against the strong grip. His eyes steeled with determination, he kneed the villager in the groin and then kicked him in the chin, successfully breaking out of his grip. He turned to run the other way just to realize he was surrounded and quickly being closed in on.

He grit his teeth. It would be a challenge, but he was trained by the Batman. He could still escape.

Unfortunately, one of the villagers managed a lucky hit to Dick’s head in the middle of the fight. While he was disoriented, the same villager hit him twice more in the same spot.

Seeing doubles and close to passing out, Dick tried to stay on his feet and fight his way out, but failed.

His eyes closed and he passed out, but not before he came up with a plan to get himself out of this the next time he was awake.

* * *

 

“Miss Artemis?” Artemis woke with a start and looked around wildly. She hadn’t fallen asleep while on guard, had she? She frantically counted the children, including the one staring at her. Seventeen. They were all here. Nothing had happened due to her mistake. Thank goodness.

The little girl staring at her, the same little girl who’d asked if her group could join up in the tunnel, pulled at her sleeve again. “I’m scared, Miss Artemis.”

Artemis sighed. “I know, Amy, we all are.”

Amy blinked and sat down next to her. “Do you think my sister is okay?”

“I don’t know.” Artemis admitted. “It’s hard to say. But we can’t spend too much time worrying about her right now, okay? Our main focus needs to be keeping ourselves healthy and safe. You’ll see her again when this is all over, okay?”

Amy nodded. Artemis stood up and began waking the children under her care. They were still less than ten miles from the village. Artemis wanted to be at least twenty before letting her guard down even the tiniest bit.

Once they were all up and had had some safe vegetation to eat, Artemis led the way as they resumed their journey to safety. They had to widely skirt a couple villages to remain safe, but Artemis had a plan in place in case of confrontation. In that case, she would pretend that they were from a village a good ways away. She would pretend she was their mother and they all took after their father. Anyone who couldn’t speak English would stay silent and anyone who could would add to the story and help convince whoever they ran into that they were on a field trip to visit their grandparents in a village pretty far from their home. Hopefully, in case of confrontation, this story would work out.

Fortunately, the day was uneventful as they got ever further from the city.

Night was beginning to fall when they came across a mountain range. The children were exhausted; the sun had already set; the clouds looked like rain; and they had yet to find shelter for the night.

“Look! It’s Mr. dark softy!” Sally exclaimed.

“Mr. dark softy?” Artemis questioned, looking in the direction Sally was pointing.

Batman was staring at them, a scowl on his face.

“Oh. You mean, Batman. Does your brother make these descriptions up, or do you?”

“We name ’em based on our brother’s stories about ’em!” Caroline proclaimed.

Batman was now striding towards them. Many of the children hid behind Artemis, although there were too many of them for them to be completely hidden behind her.

“Hi, Mr. dark softy!” Sally exclaimed to Batman.

Artemis facepalmed. “Ugh… I question your brother’s storytelling skills.”

“Artemis.” Batman only said her name, but his tone shouted to explain herself.

“Hi, Batman. You can blame Robin for their name for you.”

“Whose children are these?” Batman’s gaze swept over the children, who scrambled to hide behind each other.

“Hey. It’s okay. Batman’s not going to hurt you. He’s a friend.” Artemis told the children before turning back to Batman. “I was staying in the Roma city, taking care of Robin’s little sisters and some others, when it was attacked. I’ve taken on the responsibility of making sure they all stay safe, and I intend on doing so successfully.” She sent him a glare, daring him to challenge her.

“Follow me.” Batman grunted, his cape sweeping behind him as he turned and trekked in the direction from which he came.

Artemis glanced at the children before following him. The children fell in line behind her.

Batman led the way to a large cave with a small opening. It didn’t look like Batman could fit inside.

“You’re all small enough to fit in there. It’s a good place to spend the night. I won’t be far if you need help.”

“Thank you, Batman.” Artemis said. She crawled in the opening with Sally’s flashlight, and, upon deeming it safe, came back out and told the children they would be spending the night there.

The children crawled in one by one.

Artemis was about to follow them in when Batman stopped her. “Robin’s little sisters?”

Artemis smiled. “It’s a long story. I’ll explain everything tomorrow. Long story short, though. His mother was pregnant when the trapeze broke.”

Batman nodded and allowed her to join the children in the cave. He then left to find a good place to guard from afar. He’d be damned if he let the little sisters of the boy he considered a son get hurt.


	7. Robin's smart

Dick awoke in the same cage he woke up in last time. He noted that it now had three more locks on it than before. His head was pounding. He probably had a concussion. That would help him in the short term. In the long run, though, it may be a problem.

**“The Romani brat is awake.** ”

“ **Maybe he will tell us what we want to hear now** .”

“ **Romani brat, speak.** ”

Dick looked at them. “ **Who’s Romani brat? Is that me?** ” He schooled his face to looked confused and childish.

One of the villagers reached their hand through the bars, grabbed him by the shirt, and slammed him forward into the bars.

“ **Owww…** ” Dick moaned. “ **Who… who are you people? Where’s Mami?** ” He forced tears to leak out of his eyes. He sniffled. “ **I want Mami** .”

The villager threw him back, allowing him to slam into the floor and back wall of the cage.

“ **What is your last memory?** ” A different villager asked.

Dick pretended to think about it, schooling his face into a more and more panicked expression. After a few moments, he cried out. “ **I don’t understand! I don’t remember! Why can’t I remember?! Where’s Mami?!** ”

The villagers scowled.

“ **He’s faking. I’m sure he is.** ” One said.

“ **Faking what?** ” Dick whined. “ **I don’t understand. Who are you? Why do you have me? Where’s Mami? I want Mami!** ”

“ **What’s your mother’s name, brat?** ”

“ **Mami? Do you know Mami?”**

**“Her name, brat.”**

**“I… I don’t remember… It’s Mami? Her name’s Mami? I remember calling her Mami!** ”

“ **What does she look like?** ”

“ **I… I don’t remember picture words… blue? Black?** ”

The villagers were quickly growing frustrated. Dick knew he was doing a good job convincing them he had amnesia.

“ **How old are you, brat?** ”

Dick scrunched up his face, thinking. He held up four fingers. “ **Four! I’m four!** ”

The villagers formed a circle, all blaming each other for Dick’s amnesia. Once the finger pointing was halted, they began discussing what to do.

“ **_If he thinks he’s four, I doubt he remembers the location of the crystal. He’s of no use to us_ ** _. _ ”

“ **_If we can’t get the crystal’s location out of him because he has amnesia, I doubt the Roma could either. He’ll starve to death in the woods if we let him go. A four-year-old doesn’t know survival skills._ ** _ ” _

“ **_We’ll follow him for a bit to make sure he’s not faking. He’s still weak from our torture and lack of food. He won’t make it far._ ** ”

Dick stared at them, keeping his mask of confusion. His numerous language fluencies allowed him to somewhat understand them even though they weren’t speaking a language he knew very well. He’d also picked up a word here or there as their prisoner. “ **Are you gonna take me to Mami?** ”

The villagers let him out, keeping a good grip on him. They blindfolded him and tied his hands behind his back before marching him out of the cavern he’d been kept in.

They kept pushing him along, not saying a word despite Dick’s numerous questions as to where they were going and why he couldn’t see.

Finally, they pushed him to the ground.

“ **_Tie him to the tree here. We’ll watch him from afar a few days. Make sure he doesn’t suddenly regain his memory. It’s better than letting him wander._ ** ”

Dick felt them untie his hands. They lifted him up and slammed him into the trunk of the tree.

“ **I hurt…** ” He whimpered as they wrapped ropes around his chest and arms to keep him bound to the tree, his feet about half a meter above the ground. He wasn’t lying about that. His head was pounding much worse than before and he was dizzy. He worried he might pass out and wake up with real amnesia.

He heard them walking away, but was sure they had left one or two behind. He settled into complaining loudly and crying for his Mami for a while.

After about an hour of doing so, he quieted down. Even a four-year-old would be able to tell no one was listening, and he couldn’t pay attention to his surroundings as well while making noise. He heard breathing nearby. They’d left two villagers to guard him. That meant he couldn’t drop the act. He’d have to keep pretending until either the villagers left, or someone else found and rescued him.

He settled himself down to wait and allowed himself to drift off.

* * *

 

“Anyone seen Batman this morning?” Black Canary inquired.

“Haven’t seen him since yesterday at lunch.” Rocket answered.

“Don’t tell me we’re missing another member of our group.” Green Arrow groaned. “And Batman, of all people? He knows we shouldn’t split up!”

“Who knows what he’s thinking? He’s been distant ever since the crash.” Superman retorted.

“We can’t really blame him for that. I mean, Robin…” Superboy began, trailing off when everyone glared at him for bringing up the elephant in the room. “We can’t avoid the topic forever. We still don’t know for sure who shot us down.”

“All the villagers agree it was the Roma.” Black Canary argued. “It must say something about the Roma that everyone thinks they’re capable of shooting down a departing rocket.”

“Not as much as you think.” They all spun around in surprise and took up stances in defense. A young man stood behind them.

“Who are you?” Zatanna demanded.

“Johnnie Grayson. You must be the Justice League and Team.” The young man raised an eyebrow. “Villagers been talking crap about us again? They’d do anything to turn newbies against us.”

“You’re a Romani?” Aqualad inquired, while the Leaguers seemed extra suspicious.

“Yeah. Got a problem with it?” Johnnie shot back.

“What’s your side of the story?” Rocket dared to ask.

“We were minding our own business on the other side of the planet when we heard about the crash.” Johnnie retorted. “There was a group investigating before more important matters called them back to the city.”

“More important matters?” Superboy growled. “Our friend died in that crash!”

“Robin, right?” They all stared at him in shock. “It’s really none of my business what your problem is, but know that we are not the cause of it. The entire planet will do anything in their power to gain potential allies in their fight against us. They stepped over the line by shooting down your ship. If anyone else died, they wouldn’t have come back.”

“What are you talking about?” Flash demanded.

“Doesn’t matter. I just want to make sure our problems don’t multiply due to my cousin’s friends turning against us.” Johnnie narrowed his eyes. “It’s bad enough the spring was attacked, followed by the city. We don’t need anyone meddling with the problems already present on this planet. I don’t know why you came, but find a way to leave if you don’t want to help.”

He turned to walk away.

“Wait!” Miss Martian spoke up. “Have you seen our friends?”

Johnnie turned back. “Wally’s helping get out those remaining in the city last I heard. I don’t know what happened to Artemis, but I think she took the twins and the other children she’d been asked to watch and escaped during the initial evacuation. She’s probably around here somewhere trying to keep them all safe. Robin was taken when the spring was attacked. I don’t know his current condition.”

“What?”

“Wait! Robin’s alive?!”

But Johnnie was gone.

* * *

 

Artemis explained everything to Batman at breakfast. She left out some parts she wasn’t supposed to share. For example, when referring to what Dick’s mother and aunt had been protecting, she called it a “precious Romani artifact” and didn’t tell the full story behind it. Fortunately, Batman didn’t push for more on that accord. He also didn’t ask about the mystery surrounding Robin. Perhaps he had figured it out on his own or perhaps he knew she wasn’t supposed to talk about it. Either way, she was relieved he didn’t ask.

Batman stayed with them that day, scouting ahead for resting places and a place to stay the night. All was uneventful until the second morning, when Batman returned just before dawn (when had he left?) with a specific boy in his arms.

Artemis gasped. “Dick!”

The children were still sleeping as she wove her way to where Batman was laying Dick on the ground.

“Where’d you find him?” Artemis kept her voice down for fear of waking the children.

“He was tied to a tree. Two villagers were watching him, but they were easy to take down.”

“He’s so cold.” Artemis whispered. “And… wet?”

“It rained.” Batman pulled off a glove and laid the back of his hand against Dick’s forehead. “He has a fever.”

Artemis bit her lip. “I can go get water and some nutrients?”

Batman gave a curt nod, not looking at her. “I’ll force some fever reducers down his throat.”

Artemis hurried off. She collected some water in a jug one of the kids had had on them when they left, and she cradled some edible plants in her arms. She then hurried back to Batman and the children.

Batman used the water to wash down the fever reducers. He had stripped Dick to his underwear and then wrapped his black cape around the teen in an effort to warm him up.

“ **Brother** ?” Caroline drowsily joined them. “ **Mr. dark softy, what’s wrong with my brother** ?”

“ **He’s sick** .” Batman gently replied, not looking at her. “ **We’re trying to make him better.** ”

Caroline looked at Dick and then turned back to Batman with wide eyes, seemingly more awake now. “ **You found my brother.** ”

Batman turned to her and placed a gentle hand on her shoulder. “ **Do you want to help him?** ” Caroline nodded. Batman handed her a cloth from his utility belt. “ **Wet this and dab at his forehead with it. He has a fever and we need to cool him down.** ”

Caroline was quick to obey. One by one, the rest of the children woke up and gathered around the scene. Once they were all awake, Batman explained to them in Romani what was happening and that they’d stay in the grove where they currently were for another day and night.

Several of the children were a little uneasy with this, but Artemis reassured them that it would be okay. She was confident that nothing would happen to any of them as long as Batman was around. He was much more experienced than her after all.

By nightfall, Dick was awake, albeit a little out of it. It was the middle of the night, a couple hours after he fell asleep again, when he awoke with utter clarity and looked around, taking in the sleeping forms all around him. His eyes landed on Batman, who was watching him closely.

The man asked him a bunch of questions to test his coherency. Dick answered them with nods, shakes of the head, or, occasionally, numbers.

“How are you feeling?” Batman asked lastly.

Dick licked his lips nervously and asked. “Is this a trick?”

“No, chum. It’s not.” Batman replied. “But… how are you alive?”

“I’m not supposed to tell.” Dick murmured. “It’s a genetic thing. Do you have…?”

“I haven’t pulled it out. Still don’t know what it is.”

“Can I check if it’s still there?”

Batman hesitated. “You told me not to take it out.”

Dick smiled softly. “And you haven’t told anyone about it?”

“No. No one.”

“Keep it hidden. I trust you enough to know it’s still there without having to check.”

Batman nodded. “Get some rest. We’re going to head out in the morning.”

Dick tentatively closed his eyes and drifted off back to sleep.


	8. Again?

With the city fully evacuated, a place of temporary residence found, and, soon after, the captured group of Roma Wally had found rescued, the main task became to gather as many of the escaped Roma as possible that had not yet come to the place of temporary residence and bring them there. The elder had been grievously injured in the attack on the city, and thoughts were turning to finding a new or temporary head soon. For that, they needed all the Roma leaders who had escaped. They also needed to locate the crystal that had been stolen.

Dick had yet to be found, despite the captured group having been rescued. Apparently, the boy had temporarily escaped and taken the crystal with him. He was recaptured, but had by that point already hidden the crystal somewhere he deemed safe. It was expected that he was the only one who knew the crystal’s current location and finding him was a priority to many of the Roma leaders who’d made it to the place of temporary residence.

With so many looking for Dick, Wally figured he could focus on finding Artemis and the children with her. Thoughts of reuniting with his uncle along with the Team and the Leaguers who were also trapped on this planet with them fled his mind easily. They were not in danger. The Roma were. Therefore, the Roma were currently the more important group.

Unfortunately, Artemis’s group was the harder one to find and Dick was only one person on a large planet. Neither priority was getting found anytime soon, and it might be easier to search if the League helped, which left only one option.

“I’m gonna regret this so bad.”

* * *

 

“This place is completely destroyed.” Miss Martian noticed. “And we’re the only ones I can sense here.”

“This must be what that kid meant when he said the city was attacked and evacuated.” Aqualad said.

“Over here!” Zatanna called. The rest of the team hurried over. Zatanna reached into an abandoned, blood-soaked shirt and pulled out a handful of dust. “This is the same kind of dust that we found when Robin died.”

“It must have something to do with the planet we’re on.” Rocket said. “Everyone who’s died has turned to dust.”

“A little off there.” The team spun around so fast Rocket fell onto Superboy.

“Wally?” Miss Martian gasped.

“Where’ve you been? And where’s Artemis?” Aqualad asked.

“I’d prefer to only explain it once.” Wally replied, hopping down from the piece of rubble he’d been standing on. “Where are the Justice League members that came with us?”

“The Green Lanterns just made contact. They’re talking with them about finding a way home.” Zatanna replied. “We wanted to see what we could find here. Promised to be back by nightfall.”

“Fine. Long story short, we need to find Artemis, Robin, and a bunch of little kids and get them all to a safe spot before we can go home.”

“Robin’s dead.” Superboy reminded stiffly.

“I hope not. He’s our only key to finding the stolen crystal.” Wally replied. “There’s a lot you guys don’t know about this place. I just came to see if I could get help with the search. Look for Artemis and Robin.” He zipped off.

“Wait! Don’t make us have to look for you too!” Rocket shouted.

“He’s gone,” Miss Martian said. “Already out of range.”

Aqualad sighed. “Well, it seems we are adding Robin to our list of people to search for. Rocket, Miss Martian, search from the sky. Go North. Zatanna, Superboy, go South. I’ll go inform the League of the new developments. Return to this spot by nightfall.”

They split up.

* * *

 

“ **Miss Artemis, Mr. Dark Softy, I’m hungry** .” A little boy complained.

Dick snorted from where Artemis was helping him along. “Do they all call you that now?”

Batman leveled a glare at him. “Your sisters taught it to them.” He added to the little boy. “ **We’ll stop at the next hidden grove we find and then get some food.** ”

The little boy nodded.

A green ship passed overhead. They all looked up, the children quickly scurrying to hide. Caroline pulled Dick into the spot where she was hiding with Sally.

“That’s a Green Lantern ship.” Artemis realized. “The League must have managed to get in contact with them.”

The ship was high enough the Lanterns couldn’t see Artemis and Batman standing down there, but Artemis and Batman could see the ship.

“What do we do?” Artemis asked once it had passed.

“We should circle back towards the city,” Dick replied, finally having pried himself loose from Caroline’s grip. “It should be evacuated by now and people will be looking for us. Once we’re close, we’ll see about reuniting with the rest of the Roma.”

“Are you sure it’s safe to return to the city?” Artemis asked. “The villagers could still be in the area looking for escapees. We don’t know that the rest of the city got away.”

Dick shook his head and looked around at the reemerging children. “You’re right. But we won’t figure out if they did or not if we keep moving away. We’ll go the long way. Around the mountains. Should take about four days by foot. We’ll hunker down about a day’s journey from the city and then Batman and I can continue on alone and return once we find out what happened to everyone else.”

Batman looked Dick up and down. “Negative. You’re too weak to handle an attack right now. If we can avoid it, you’ll stay out of sight.”

Dick scowled. “I’ve fought in worse condition!”

“How about we decide who’s going and who’s staying behind when we reach wherever we’re going to hunker down?” Artemis interrupted. “Dick might be better by then. We have three days before that’s a problem.”

Batman gave a curt nod and Dick checked a compass.

“You’ve been taking a curved path from the city. If we turn South now, we should be heading in the right direction.” 

“Let’s just hope we don’t run into any villagers along the way.” Artemis grumbled. “Because as long as the crystal stays in villager hands, you’re just as vulnerable to death as the rest of us.”

“Who told you the crystal was in villager hands?” Dick asked.

“It was when the city was attacked. They wouldn’t have had the confidence to attack if they didn’t still have the crystal.” Artemis replied.

Dick shrugged and started South. “Guess we’ll need to find it then.”

“The other Roma can focus on that.” Artemis said, stopping him. “We should focus on finding them.”

Dick just shrugged her hand off his shoulder and kept walking. Batman wondered if the crystal Artemis was talking about was the object hidden in his utility belt, but he said nothing.

The children fell into line behind them.

* * *

 

It had been three days since they’d seen Wally. Three days since they’d had contact with anyone not related to themselves as well.

Flash was not happy to hear his nephew had just told them to add another missing person to their roster and then taken off. It was clear he was avoiding confrontation, because Flash hadn’t seen Wally once since the entire thing started.

Superman, Black Canary, and Green Arrow coordinated the search for their missing comrades with the Green Lanterns. The villagers had turned wary of their cause and some accused them of siding with the Roma, although the League insisted they wanted no part in whatever war was brewing.

The Team continued to search the area, but it became increasingly clear that the group of Artemis and the children were outside of the search radius.

On the third day, Miss Martian was the one to find them. Well, sense them, really.

She telepathically reached out when she felt Artemis’s presence. ~ _ Artemis? _ ~

Down on the ground, the girl startled, catching Dick’s attention.

“What is it?” He asked.

“M’gann.” Artemis replied. ~ _ Uh… hi M’gann. Can I help you _ ?~

~ _ We’ve been searching for you for weeks! Where are you? _ ~ M’gann exclaimed.

~ _ Um… I see trees, trees, and more trees. _ ~ Artemis thought to her unhelpfully.

~ _ I’m going to follow your signal. Be there soon.~ _

~ _ Wait! Don’t do that! M’gann! M’gann! _ ~

Artemis groaned.

“She coming here?” Dick guessed, receiving a nod in response. He turned to the children as they stopped walking. “ **Who wants to meet a real, live Martian?** ” Some of the kids looked confused, but the older ones and Sally got excited.

Batman raised an eyebrow behind his cowl. Artemis facepalmed.

“What?” Dick said to them. “She’s coming whether we like it or not. Might as well get them hyped up about it.”

M’gann flew down a few minutes later. “Artemis! Thank goodness you’re…”

“ **Martian** !” Sally interrupted excitedly as half the kids swarmed M’gann, asking questions in Romani. M’gann’s eyes glowed a moment as she connected to their minds to try to understand them. Caroline scooted closer to Dick and the younger children who didn’t know about Martians gathered by Artemis.

“Okay. Okay. You’re overwhelming her.” Artemis shook her head, while Dick laughed his head off next to her. “One at a time.”

M’gann sent an annoyed glare at Artemis, before noticing Dick and Batman for the first time.

“Robin?” She gasped. Dick stopped laughing, remembering she had thought him dead.

“Um… hi, Miss M. I’m kinda… um… not dead?”

“How?” M’gann breathed. 

“Long story.” Dick replied. M’gann flew over to him, hugging him tightly.

“She can fly!” Amy exclaimed.

“She can do other things too! Brother’s told us all about them!” Sally launched into an explanation of M’gann’s abilities.

“Brother?” M’gann inquired into Dick’s ear.

“Again. Long story.” Dick replied.

Batman suddenly tensed. “ **Circle up** ! **Now** !”

Frightened, the children obeyed, getting into the middle while Dick, Artemis, and Batman formed a triangle around them. The tactic had protected them from two attacks already and the children knew by now it meant something was wrong.

M’gann quickly changed the outer triangle into a diamond. Villagers surrounded them quickly.

**_“Killing the boy is a priority. He’s the only one who knows the crystal’s location._ ** ” One of the villagers stated.

Dick got the gist and steeled himself for their attack. Nobody else seemed to understand the villager’s words.

The villagers charged.  Dick, Artemis, Miss Martian, and Batman did their best to hold them off, but they were outnumbered, and when one of the villagers managed to slip past their defenses and grab Sally, it was all over.

“Sally!” Dick screamed. The distraction allowed the villagers he was fighting to one-up him.

“You Earthlings are fools to side with the Roma. This fight is not yours.” The leader of the group of villagers growled in clear-cut English. “Leave now and we will let you live.”

By now, Artemis and Miss Martian had been restrained as well, and only Batman was left fighting.

The leader of the group of villagers rolled his eyes and then whistled. A large animal native to that planet charged Batman and then lay on top of him to restrain him.

“That’s better. Now listen here. You three don’t have anything we want and we have no reason to kill you. The Roma are cursed. You too will be cursed if you associate with them.”

“What’s the whole problem with this damn curse anyways?!” Dick interrupted. “So we’re connected to a magic crystal. Big deal! Why does that make us cursed?”

“You are pushing your luck, little prince.” The leader grunted.

“I’d really like an explanation before you kill me. I’ve spent most of my life on another planet which, I have to say, is more tolerant than this one, and that’s saying something!” Dick retorted. “What have the Roma done that pissed you off so much?”

“They have defied the natural boundaries of life and death.”

“A real reason.”

“We do not need to explain ourselves to you. We have been fighting since the beginning. We…”

“So tradition. That’s not a real reason. That’s just doing what your ancestors did and not allowing for new revelations and advancements.”

Sally spoke up. “The Roma have always been willing to share our inventions and advancements with the villagers. We have offered treaty after treaty. Grandmother taught us the history of the Roma’s efforts to bring peace to this warring world. Why are you so against accepting it?”

“You refuse to give up the crystal.” The leader hissed.

“Yes, but we are much more advanced at technology than you.” Dick replied. “We are willing to give anything except the one object that’s connected directly to our culture and continued livelihood.”

“Anything, you say?” The leader sneered before suddenly impaling Dick through the chest with a spear. “I’ll take the life of the only Romani who knows the crystal’s location and leave it at that.”

Dick became aware of screaming as the leader ripped the spear out of his chest and ordered a retreat. He wasn’t sure where it was coming from, but he supposed it was either the children or his second family or perhaps both.

He was fading as Batman knelt next to him and desperately tried to stem the blood flow. “Brssss.”

“We’re going to get you some help! Hang in there!”

“Sping… tack ta sping.” Dick slurred. “Tack ta sping…” Black spots were invading his vision. He knew he was dying. “Tack… tack ta… tack ta…”

He choked up blood, and said no more. When Batman started CPR a few moments later, he was already gone.


	9. The Spirits

“ **What now?** ” Mary Grayson murmured to her husband. Every single Romani citizen was waiting outside the makeshift temple where the elder council was holding a meeting to discuss their next move. 

“ **It’s likely the elder will have us scour the planet for the crystal.** ” Her brother-in-law replied. “ **She can only name one successor and she has already deemed Dick worthy of the title. Without that crystal, our people will soon be leaderless. We all know the elder is on her last breaths of life. Our only hope for the future is lost if we cannot find that crystal.** ”

“ **Mami, do you think Mr. Dark Softy and super-fast speed-eater and super-awesome archer girl will help us?** ” Sally asked. Shortly after Dick’s death, the group of children and Artemis and Batman had found their way to the place of temporary residence, reuniting with the Roma while also relaying the terrible news.

“ **I don’t know, Sweetie,** ” Mary answered. “ **Artemis and Wally have been kind and helpful so far, but this is out of their league. They have to return home eventually and the Green Lanterns can take them thus as soon as they are ready.** ”

Sally nodded gravely. Despite being only six years of age, she and Caroline could easily sense the somber mood. Dick’s death had reverberations beyond those expected. It was clear they needed him back.

A little ways away from the crowd of Roma, the Justice League and Team members were converged.

Artemis and Wally had barely spoken since they’d gathered. Batman had also avoided questions, so they were mostly sitting in silence, watching the gathered Roma.

A young maid emerged from the makeshift temple. Shyly, she approached the League-Team group.

“I’ve been asked to fetch a Miss Artemis and a Mr. Batman.” The maid murmured. “The elder would like to ask you a few questions.”

Artemis and Batman got up and followed the maid. Whispers followed them through the crowd. Not all the Roma trusted them.

When Artemis’s eyes landed on the elder, it was all she could do to hold back her comment of “you don’t look so good.” Indeed, it looked as if the elder had aged fifty years since Artemis had seen her last. She was pale and sickly and leaned against a pile of pillows for support. Artemis knelt in respect and Batman copied her.

“You were the last to see my grandson alive. I would think his last words would have regarded the missing crystal. It is known he was the last to have it and he likely hid it in a safe place. As safe a place as he could find on short notice, that is, for he was free for an exceedingly short period of time.” The elder’s voice was hoarse and frail.

“His last words were slurred. But I think he was saying something about the spring. He said ‘tack ta sping’. I think he meant to say ‘take to spring’,” Artemis reported. “I had no clue what he was talking about and I don’t even think he was talking to me.” She hesitated and looked at Batman. “I… I think he was talking to Batman, but I could be mistaken…”

They all turned their attention to Batman.

“Batman, do you maybe know the crystal’s location?” Artemis murmured. “If Dick really was talking to you…”

Batman seemed to be thinking over something. He remained silent for a good few minutes as everyone waited patiently for him to speak.

“One night, shortly before I left the League to do some investigating of my own, I awoke to find Dick near me. At the time, we all still believed him dead, so it seemed a hallucination. I never followed up on what he said to me, but he brought it up when I saw him again, when Artemis and the children were asleep.” Batman looked at the elder. “I don’t know what it was, but he gave something to me that night. And he trusted me to keep it secret. If it will bring him back…” Batman paused briefly. “I don’t know it’s what you think it is.”

The elder nodded wisely yet weakly. “You feel you are breaching his trust even saying that much. However, if Richard truly was telling you to take the crystal to the spring, then you are not breaching his trust, but rather following his wishes.” She pushed herself up a little. “A designated cohort will take you to the body of water designated to be our new spring. Once there, you will know if what he gave you was the crystal or not.”

* * *

 

Artemis and Wally were the only other Earthlings granted permission to go with Batman and the cohort to the new spring. The excuse was that they had already proved their allegiances in a way the others had not. Mary and Karla Grayson carried blankets and stayed near the back of the group. John Grayson and several members of the elder council led the way with torches. In the middle were several Roma whom Artemis and Wally did not know personally, but had been specially selected to go along with this task.

“Do you think this will work?” Wally whispered to Artemis, wincing when his voice echoed.

“Just go along with it, Baywatch. We’ll find out.” Artemis replied.

The people at the front slowed to a stop. The torches just barely lighted on the water just in front of them.

“We’re here,” said John Grayson.

After a few moments of silence, Artemis asked, “Is something supposed to be happening?”

One of the members of the elder council replied, “In our legends, the spirits did not appear immediately. They appeared late at night and woke our ancestor from his sleep. It is still daylight outside. We will have to bunker down until something happens.”

“How long do you think it will take?” Wally asked.

“We’ll wait a full day and night. If nothing happens, it is likely our assumption was wrong.”

* * *

 

“Artemis! Artemis, wake up!” Wally shook his girlfriend, rousing her from her slumber.

“Wha…?” Artemis opened her eyes. 

A cloud of glowing white floated above them. As they watched, it rearranged into humanoid shapes.

“The spirits…” Artemis whispered in awe, voice echoing.

By then, the rest of the cohort had awoken. Batman was digging in his belt, trying to find the crystal that had to be there somewhere.

A light, pulsing glow on the right side of his belt alerted him to the crystal’s approximate location. He pulled it out.

By then, a spirit was approaching him. With some hesitation, he gave it the crystal.

A soft melody echoed through the air. It wasn’t clear if it was coming from the spirits, or just there. The spirits gathered in a circle in the air above the new spring. They looked like they were dancing around the spirit with the crystal.

It was mesmerizing. Nobody could tear their eyes from the spirits and the music got louder and faster in pitch as the spirits merged into the crystal, which then slowly lowered into the new spring.

The moment the crystal touched the water a wave of white and blue flowed out from it, lighting up the entire spring. The water glowed, pulsing in time with the crystal.

Then, Roma began to appear in the bottom of the spring.

The cohort was prepared for this and several of the Roma dove into the spring. Batman seemingly wanted to help, but Mary stopped him, murmuring something about contamination.

All of the Roma who had died since the crystal was stolen were brought out of the spring one by one. They were naked, but that was what the blankets were for.

Dick was the last to appear. Once he was out of the water, the glow from the crystal pulsed one last time and then faded out, leaving the torches the only light source.

Mary fussed over her son as he shivered, dripping wet in his blanket. Batman approached slowly, with a silent request to touch the boy. Once Mary stepped back, the man embraced his surrogate son.

“Batman, thank you.” The words were a whisper, but they echoed through the cavern.

Wally and Artemis approached Dick quietly.

“Dude, you missed quite the show. It was amazing,” Wally told him. Bumping his shoulder, he added. “Please don’t die again.”

Dick grinned. “No promises.”


	10. Goodbye for now

“So… this is goodbye?” It didn’t matter who said it. They were all thinking it.

Dick shook his head, smiling sadly as he looked at his teammates, gathered in front of the Green Lantern ship that was to take them home.

“You guys can come visit anytime you want. Or can, I guess. It’s not goodbye. Just… see you later.”

“You didn’t have to accept it, you know,” Wally muttered, “Not if you didn’t want to.”

Again with that sad smile. “The elder is only allowed to, or supposed to, elect one successor. It’s the highest honor. It wouldn’t be right for me to turn Grandmother down.”

Batman approached and handed Dick a device. “I’ve altered this for interplanetary distances. It’ll allow you to video chat with us when you want or need to.” 

Dick took the device and hugged Batman. “Thanks, Bats.”

“Visit if you can. You are welcome anytime.” Batman whispered something else in Dick’s ear and then walked away.

“What did he say?” Artemis asked as Batman boarded the ship.

“If he wanted you to know, he’d have said it louder,” Dick replied. “ **Sally, don’t even think about sneaking on that ship** .”

The six-year-old appeared out of nowhere, pouting. “ **But I’ve always wanted to go to Earth** .”

“ **Maybe when you’re older, you and Caroline can go for a visit** .”

“ **But you were on Earth at our age!** ”

“ **Yes, but not without Mom and Dad. Aunt Karla and Uncle Rick and Johnnie were with me as well** .” He glanced behind him, where Caroline had just come over. “ **Plus, Caroline isn’t ready to go now, and we’d all rather you both go together. Come here** .” Sally continued to pout. “ **Come here** .” Grumbling, Sally made her way over to Dick’s side.

“We hope to see you again, Robin. You are our friend and always will be.” Aqualad said.

“I feel the same. Don’t worry. I’ll call whenever I can.” Dick smiled. “Have a safe trip home.”

The team boarded the spacecraft, each giving Dick a hug as they did so. Wally and Artemis had already been intensely thanked for everything they’d done for the Roma, and each had a gift, or souvenir, to remember their experience by.

As the ship lifted into the air, they wondered when they would next see their Robin.


End file.
